


One Way or Another

by Cherikella



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Dark!Charles, I Can't Sleep, Illusions, M/M, Post Apocalypse, mind-control
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 15:07:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6990397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherikella/pseuds/Cherikella
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles can't sleep, Erik can help.<br/>Dark!Charles</p><p>A post-Apocalypse AU in which Charles misses and needs Erik so hard that he resorts to something he otherwise never would - mind-controlling Erik into staying with him. </p><p>Erik starts living a life of illusion in a false perfect world but every lie must end. And what happens when Erik discovers the truth of what Charles had done?</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Way or Another

Sleep has always been important to Charles Xavier. The lack of sleep made him cranky and tired and basically it was a generally bad thing to have a sleep-deprived professor around here. He was ready to sacrifice his powers once so that he could sleep, he would do it again now, only he had too many people depending on him and his abilities to do that. He could not be selfish this time. He had to keep going. 

And yet it's been weeks and the lack of sleep was already having negative effects on him as well as on his mutation. It was vital for a telepath to get good sleep after all or there would be consequences. Charles knew that well. 

As much as he hated to do it, Erik might just be the only way... 

* * *

Erik Lehnsherr was dreaming. His dream was confusing, as all his dreams were recently. He was in the Xavier mansion - not the new, rebuilt one, but the one he remembered from when Charles first brought him there. All the people he once called friends were there too - alive and well, ready for adventures. It was the time when he felt most optimistic about his life, the time he was almost ready to let go of his hurtful past and look for some kind of future. Apparently a part of him wanted to feel that way again because his dreams were all a nostalgic trip down memory lane. 

And then suddenly...

~ _Erik... old friend..._ ~ 

Erik frowned in his sleep. 

~ _I know you can hear me... I'm so sorry... I need you... I need to talk to you..._ ~ 

Erik stirred in bed. 

"Charles?" he asked in his sleep, his voice only a whisper. 

~ _Yes. It's me._ ~ Charles' voice continued. It was just as soft and gentle as Erik had remembered. ~ _Or do you expect another telepath inside your mind?_ ~ 

Erik chuckled. "You're teasing me. Like you used to... Long time ago when we were--" 

~ _I'm not a dream, Erik._ ~ Charles' voice continued as if reading his mind, guessing his thoughts. ~ _It really is me speaking._ ~ 

"I'm imagining it." Erik said, shaking his head "I dream about you a lot. You're no different than my other dreams." 

Suddenly the surroundings in Erik's dream changed. It was no longer the mansion but instead a bedroom - Charles' bedroom. Erik could see him clearly now - not Charles from 20 years ago, but Charles now, the way Erik saw him two months ago - bald, calm and hopeful. 

"Charles... Why...?" Erik took an unsure step closer.

~I can't sleep...~ Charles spoke; this time Erik could see his struggling face, could see his lips move. The voice was more clear, louder even, like he was actually talking. ~I close my eyes and I have these terrible visions... Images of my children, threatened, weak, helpless and me just... lying there, my chair away from me... I become a silent observer of their demise..." a tear fell down Charles' cheek. Erik felt his chest tighten. ~You asked me what I do when I wake up to that... Well, this is what I do. I need your help, Erik. I need you to come back to us... to come back to  _me..._ ~

"What do you want from me, Charles? You know I can't stay in that school with you forever. It's not for me. This life you created there... It's you, it's not me..." 

Charles swallowed, frowning. ~I know.~ he said ~And yet I'm asking you...  _Please?~_

Erik looked down at his feet. He hated saying _no_ to Charles but he also knew that saying _yes_ would only complicate things. It's always hard to move on from Charles, Erik always came up with some apocalyptic scenarios that ended in disaster whenever he had to get over Charles. And ironically those brought Charles back to his life once again, defeating their own purpose of helping him cope with the loss. No, if he wanted to have at least a small chance of peace, he had to concentrate on himself now, not on Charles, not the mutants, not the humans, not the unfairness in society. He was tired. He needed rest. 

"There's no way in which I can help you, Charles." he finally said 

Charles sighed. Then looked up at Erik, those wet blue eyes getting intense. ~In that case, there is no other way!~ he said, his face grimacing a little as Erik suddenly saw nothing but bright white light all around him. It was burning him. It was cleansing him. It was changing him. 

In the midst of it all he could hear Charles' voice, sounding loud, powerful, strangely exciting and yet overwhelming like never before. 

~I cannot sleep.~ the Voice said ~I cannot think! I cannot protect them! I cannot do this without you anymore! I need you,  _Erik,_ help me... Help... me...~ 

Erik felt something inside him rip apart. He cried in pain! What was happening? Charles,  _his Charles,_ would never hurt him! Would never hurt anyone! 

~We are the same, you and I. Can't you see we belong together? We're meant to be together.~ the Voice continued with the same force as before, if not amplified. ~Come to me, Erik! I'm just as broken as you are... Let us fix one another... Come to me...~

Another explosion of white light, another painful cry on Erik's part and that was all.

* * *

Erik opened his eyes at exactly 7:30 am like he always did. A familiar wake up song was quietly playing on the radio. The first rays of sunshine were slipping through the window, getting in his eye, making him feel fresh and warm. A smile spread on his face. He heard someone's even breathing close to him. It was Charles. He had woken up next to Charles. Of course he had. Why was he surprised? He has been waking up next to Charles ever since that day they returned victorious from Cuba and started building the Xavier school. It was what Erik wanted and it felt good! 

He stretched then sat up in bed. He was naked. Again. He chuckled. Charles was really pretty sexually active for a man in a wheelchair. Not that Erik was complaining. And not that Erik actually had much experience with other paraplegics than Charles so he really didn't have a ground to compare. Another grin spread on his face as memories of last night returned to his mind. He looked beside him and found Charles still asleep. This adorable idiot! He had scheduled all his classes in the afternoon so that he can sleep in like he liked. It was adorable! Erik couldn't help himself and leaned in to kiss Charles' beautiful bald head. 

Then it was time for Erik's day to begin. He got up from bed, put some clothes on and went down to the kitchen. 

Some of the kids were already up and about the school. They all greeted him with a smile when they saw him in the corridors and he returned the smiles happily. It was all so cheerful, so joyful. If Erik didn't know any better, he'd think it wasn't real. It was too much like a dream come true. Erik felt lightheaded and happy again and rushed to the kitchen to get his breakfast and go for his morning jog before his classes started. 

Yes, he sighed with a happy smile, life was good!

* * *

"How was your day, Erik?" Charles asked when they both lied down in bed, the telepath snuggled under his arm, blue eyes gazing up at him with such adoration Erik could melt just by looking at them. 

"It was good! It was more than good actually." he replied, the fingers on his hand gently sliding up and down Charles' shoulder and bicep. 

Charles let out a small moan and closed his eyes just for a moment to enjoy the feeling. It was strange how Charles got so excited every time Erik touched him even after all these years they've been together! Even the slightest touch could make him want Erik as if he'd been starving for him for at least 15 years, maybe more! 

"Tell me more about it, Erik..." the telepath purred, wrapping his own arms around Erik's slim torso. "I want to hear all about it. I want... I want to hear you say how happy you are..." 

Erik chuckled. "You're a strange man, Charles." he said "Besides, you can read my mind. You know if I'm happy or not." he looked down at Charles warmly and said in a low sensual voice "What do you see, Charles?" 

The smile on Charles' face seemed a bit sad but Erik could not quite understand why. 

"I still want to hear you say it." Charles muttered "It's important to me." 

Erik pressed their lips together gently. "I'm happy" he said in between slow, lazy kisses. "I'm so very happy with you, Charles!" he continued, feeling Charles' breathing speeding up under his touch 

"Say you'll never leave me!" Charles whispered, eyes closed, lips desperate. "Say you want to stay with me and never go away!" 

"Of course I'd never leave, Charles!" Erik said "If I were gonna leave you, I would've done it years ago. We've been together for 20 years, Charles. I'm not going anywhere. I love you!" 

Charles smiled again "You love me..." 

"Yes. Is this news to you?" Erik chuckled 

"Just love me and let me love you back!" Charles said, pressing kisses down Erik's neck, his voice getting hoarse now and Erik knew what was coming next. "That's all I ask for."

Erik grinned and wrapped himself tighter around his dear telepath.

* * *

Was Charles happy? Yes, he was. Did Charles feel guilty? Oh, yeah, he definitely did! 

He was wrecked with guilt every time Erik's eyes looked at him with love, respect and trust. He was betraying that trust. He did the one thing Erik would never forgive him - he got inside his head and tricked him, lied to him, betrayed him. 

But wasn't this all for the best? It was definitely not just for Charles' benefit! The school was enriched with Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto as a co-founder. Erik was after all one of the most powerful mutants in the world. He was intelligent, passionate and just the right amount of magnetic (pun unintended) to make the students love him and respect him at the same time. It was good for the world because Erik wasn't going through with his weird plans anymore now that he was busy with Charles and his new life in the school. Erik himself was happy too! He said so! Of course he wouldn't have said it if he knew that all he believed was actually a lie but that was just a tiny detail. This life here was exactly what Erik needed and what he'd always wanted. And Charles was giving it to him now! 

It wasn't selfish. It wasn't! 

Of course Charles was very happy to have Erik around. Now when he woke up at night, worried for his children, he looked at Erik sleeping peacefully next to him and he felt safe and not alone. Happy to be with the man he loved for so long. The man he tried hard to forget but never could. His Erik! 

It wasn't selfish! 

All those days and nights, spent alone or surrounded by people who were great but weren't Erik. All those losses he had to face without Erik. All that time when he felt that pain, that incredible, horrible pain that was searing through him like hot iron spinning inside his very heart, mind and soul! How he craved for Erik's presence during those times! How he needed to feel Erik's love again! But instead he was abandoned. 

It wasn't selfish!

Seeing Erik reappear every 10 years or so, reminding him of the pain and the loss, showing him how his wound never truly healed. And that only to give him false hope and then break him all over again. Charles tried and tried to accept it, to accept that Erik could not be chained to an invalid and his school. That Erik was a free spirit who needed to follow his own path, even if it usually led him to undesirable places with destructive results. His mind understood this but his heart couldn't accept it. His heart wanted more than a few friendly words every 10 years. He realized it the last time he said goodbye.

_"You sure I can't convince you to stay?" he had asked that day, calmly, silently hoping_

_How could Erik not hear the desperation inside him? Erik knew him so well! How could he not have felt how much Charles needed him!_

_Instead he got a pat on the shoulder and a "You're a psychic, Charles. You can convince me to do anything."_

And so he will! So he did! It wasn't selfish! It was survival! 


End file.
